Daniel went in for surgery Thursday morning. He was under the knife for 5 hours while they fused his lumbar vertebrae, cutting into him from both the front and the back.
I finally got to see him around 2pm, and he was very groggy from the anesthesia, but as soon as it wore off the nurses got him up on his feet to do some walking. Frankly, it’s amazing. It’s Saturday morning now, and they have been steadily decreasing his pain meds while increasing the amount of walking he’s doing. He’s stiff and uncomfortable, but all in all I’m stunned at how well he seems to be doing.
It’s a real role reversal for Daniel and I. Since 2008 I’ve been in the hospital five times (more if you count visits to the ER to deal with pre-term labor issues during my second pregnancy), and he’s always stayed by my side, taking care of everything. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to return the kindness. Being on the other end, all doped up on pain killers, I never realized what this end entails.
I haven’t really slept at all the last three nights. The first because I was worried about the surgery, the second because I wanted to make sure Daniel was comfortable, so I was hopping up every fifteen minutes to adjust or scratch or feed ice chips or call the nurse. I actually didn’t even feel tired that second night, I was so intent on making sure he was okay. Then last night the tired hit. As I could see that he was doing fine, I stopped worrying so much and got exhausted. But you know that chair next to the hospital bed that all the nurses say folds down so you can sleep? It doesn’t. At best I would say it reclines. It is, in fact, wildly uncomfortable.
And so I am very excited to say that we only have one more night here. Daniel comes home tomorrow, and judging by his progress (he was walking the stairs this morning here at the hospital in preparation for our stairs at home), things will return to normal before too long. Of course, it will be a while before he’s able to pick up the kiddos (read: change a diaper), so it’s not like I’m expecting things to be totally normal right away, I guess I’m just feeling optimistic.
So that’s the haps. Come Monday it’s back to work, but now that the worst has passed on this front, I expect I’ll be able to focus once again, and get caught up on some projects.
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